#054
A gentle and soft tone resonated.
“Name, ah, my name? Yes. I remembered it because Woo Dohwan-ssi called me by it back then, but… did I make a mistake?”
“No! No, of course not. I thought you wouldn’t know.”
Kim Yujin-ssi looked at me with slightly flushed cheeks and quietly closed her mouth. I smiled and brought to mind several flowers with white blooms. The kind that would look good when paired with phalaenopsis orchids. What would there be? Elegant flowers that wouldn’t stand out too much…
“Would you like to take a look at this?”
Suddenly, a flower with a similar shape to phalaenopsis orchids came to mind.
“What is this?”
“It’s a flower called dendrobium, and I think it would look pretty mixed with phalaenopsis orchids. If we add this here, sandersonia, it would have a winter feeling and be lovely.”
I quickly searched for photos of dendrobium and sandersonia and held them out in front of Kim Yujin-ssi.
“If you look at sandersonia, the flowers are shaped like bells. The blooms are small and the yellow is deep, so I think it would make good accent points in a bouquet. What do you think?”
“Wow! I love it! This looks so cute!”
She examined the flowers as if she would be sucked into my phone screen in front of her. She seemed to like the sandersonia, muttering “cute” at least ten times while looking at the photo, then suddenly lifted her head.
“Delpare?”
Kim Yujin-ssi, who had swept up her flowing hair and gathered it, tilted her head. The name seemed unfamiliar to her.
“Dendrobium. This one.”
I corrected the name and picked up the phone that had been placed on the table. This. After searching for dendrobium and bringing up a photo, I placed the phone in front of her.
“This is pretty too. But phalaenopsis orchids? It looks similar to those.”
“Wow… you’re right! They’re both orchid flowers, that’s why. Yujin-ssi, you have really good eye!”
Without realizing it, I let out an exclamation and clapped my hands. Clap, the sound rang out and Kim Yujin-ssi lifted her head with a very shy expression.
“I don’t know if I should say this…”
Sentences that start with “I don’t know if I should say this” are usually similar to “don’t take this the wrong way,” aren’t they? Had I unknowingly made some mistake with Kim Yujin-ssi? For a moment, I quickly went over our conversation. There didn’t seem to be anything…
“I felt this earlier too, but when the owner calls my name, it feels really tingly. You get told you have a nice voice a lot, right? Even though you just called my name, it feels like we became really close.”
“Ah… no. I haven’t heard that. Everyone just tells me I’m handsome.”
So it wasn’t a mistake but words meant as a compliment. As I joked while looking at her glamorous yet neat beautiful face, Kim Yujin-ssi burst into laughter. She raised the hands that had been protectively wrapped around her belly to cover her mouth, stamped her feet, then met my eyes with a relaxed expression.
“Ah, I want to become friends with you, owner.”
“Haha. Come often.”
At my answer, her small face gently bobbed up and down.
“But I, here, this, I’d prefer if there were no stems in the upper part… I don’t want any green in my bouquet.”
Kim Yujin-ssi’s case was clear about what she wanted. Having her clearly state what kind of bouquet she wanted was convenient for me as the maker too. I nodded while taking notes of her requirements in my notepad.
“Mm, I think it’ll still be fine. Even without the green, since sandersonia will be included, it won’t be boring or bland. The color of sandersonia is darker than you’d think. Yellow.”
“This is so cute. Sandersonia. I really like it.”
Kim Yujin-ssi put my phone down on the table and searched for sandersonia on her own phone. With a face like someone who had just fallen in love, she checked the flowers and her lips curved into a soft smile. Should I show her the real thing?
Both dendrobium and sandersonia. From what I heard, it seemed like she hadn’t actually seen even the phalaenopsis orchids she wanted for her bouquet, so it might be better to show her the flowers in advance. Photos and real flowers are definitely different. Moreover, since they’re flowers she’s never seen in person, the atmosphere might be different from what she imagined when she receives the bouquet. When my thoughts reached this point, I leaned toward showing her the flowers before the ceremony.
“Um… I’m going to the flower market this week? If you have time this weekend, would you like to come once more? Since today is Wednesday, if I order the flowers, I might be able to receive them by Saturday.”
“I want to come, I want to come!! I definitely want to come!”
“Then please write down your contact information. If I get them in, I won’t call, but if I can’t get them in, I’ll contact you.”
At my answer, she smiled brightly over and over. She thanked me and pressed down firmly as she wrote each number one by one. Kim Yujin-ssi, who pushed the notepad with eleven neatly written digits toward me, repeated that she was counting on me.
I started by writing up an order form based on the information I had noted. I wrote down her name, phone number, ceremony date, and carefully transcribed the flowers to be included and special requests.
“Did you look into bouquet prices?”
“No. I didn’t go anywhere else and came straight here.”
“It’s fine if you visit other places.”
I said once more what I had said not only to Kim Yujin-ssi but to all the brides who had come here. It was also something I said because I thought it wasn’t quite right to decide after only visiting one place for the most important accessory used in a wedding.
“There are many people more skilled than me, and there are people who use flowers differently from me… They might recommend even prettier flowers that suit Yujin-ssi.”
At my words telling her to look at other places too, Kim Yujin-ssi shook her head. She leaned her body back against the backrest and naturally wrapped both arms around her belly.
“It’s tiring to go around. I’ll just do it here.”
“Mm… alright then. I’ll make it pretty.”
“Oh, it doesn’t matter how much the bouquet costs.”
She turned her head sharply and a mischievous smile hung on her lips. Even her voice asking “you know I’m rich, right?” was playful. I don’t know. I also playfully gave my answer and wrote the bouquet amount on the order form.
“The orchid flowers Yujin-ssi mentioned are generally expensive. But it’s not unreasonably expensive…”
“Mm…?”
“Three hundred thousand won. Instead, I’ll include the parents’ corsages and boutonnieres as a service.”
“That seems really cheap? You’re not giving me a discount because I’m Dohwan’s friend, are you?”
Kim Yujin-ssi’s already large eyes opened round. She seemed genuinely surprised as her voice tone also rose. I shook my head saying it wasn’t like that and coordinated additional things with Kim Yujin-ssi.
When we had almost finished writing up the order form, a fairly familiar phone ringtone sounded. Both Kim Yujin-ssi’s and my gazes turned to the two phones placed side by side on the table. She reflexively reached for her phone, but it was my phone that was ringing. Her slender hand changed direction, grabbed my phone, and pushed it forward as if telling me to answer quickly.
“May I take this for a moment?”
“Of course!”
At her reaction as if asking why I would even ask such a thing, I bowed my head slightly in thanks and checked the screen. Gyoyeon, huh? It’s Gyoyeon! Without realizing it, I shot up from my seat.
“Gyoyeon!”
– Ranho. Sorry for the late contact. I had back-to-back meetings from morning, so I’m only calling now.
“No, it’s fine. Are you done with all the busy stuff now?”
It had been too long since I’d been in contact with Gyoyeon. Without realizing it, my voice got higher. It wasn’t even that late of a contact, but I kept reassuring her that it was okay at the slightly apologetic voice coming through the receiver. I had only waited an hour or two at most. If it was Gyoyeon, I could wait however long.
– Not yet. Let’s have dinner. I’ll… come to the shop after work.
And even good news.
“Is today okay for you? You’re not forcing yourself to make time when you’re busy, are you? I can come pick you up in front of your company. Should I come pick you up?”
My mood improved at Gyoyeon’s voice coming through the receiver. I gripped the phone tightly and pressed it close to my ear, trying not to miss a single word of her voice.
– No, I’ll come. Think about what to eat for dinner.
“Should we eat at my place?”
– …No. Let’s eat out. Ranho, I have to go into another meeting. See you later.
“Okay, good luck.”
The call ended without any further pleasantries. Even knowing it had ended, I stood there blankly with the phone still pressed to my ear. If Kim Yujin-ssi’s voice hadn’t reached me, I might have stood like that for quite a while.
“Owner? Owner.”
“Yes, yes? Yes. Ah, I’m sorry. The order form… it’s almost finished.”
“Is she your girlfriend?”
Kim Yujin-ssi’s eyes sparkled brightly. It was a gaze thick with curiosity. I held my pen while reading through the order form one last time, checking if there was anything more to note.
“Girlfriend?”
At the persistent question, I shook my head instead of answering.
“No. Just a friend. My closest friend.”
“You answered your close friend’s call very tenderly…? If someone heard that voice, they’d misunderstand too.”
“She wouldn’t misunderstand… something like that. My friend has a boyfriend too.”
My mouth tasted bitter as I spat out the lie. She’s already misunderstanding, so how should I resolve this? I put down the pen I was holding and pulled over the chocolate box that had been placed on one side of the table, setting it between Kim Yujin-ssi and me.
“A few days ago, um… our phone call didn’t go very well.”
“Because you fought?”
“No. It wasn’t a fight either. Just… a minor misunderstanding?”
I shrugged my shoulders lightly. It meant I didn’t want to talk about it more, but Kim Yujin-ssi, who didn’t understand my gesture, asked once more what kind of misunderstanding it was.
“It was really minor, just nothing at all. The order form is finished. You’re supposed to pay everything on the originally contracted day, but since Yujin-ssi hasn’t actually seen the flowers, let’s have you check the samples I bring on Saturday and settle the payment then.”
“Wow, is that okay?”
“It’s okay.”
“Won’t your shop go under doing that?”
“It won’t go under from that much.”
When I laughed playfully, Kim Yujin-ssi’s thumb slowly gave a thumbs up. It would be better if it went under and I closed the shop. The flower shop I opened to work casually has been doing too well, too well. With it doing this well, there’s no way it would go under.
“But is the owner’s name Ranho? Ranho. That’s a pretty name.”
She smiled with an affectionate expression and stuck her hand into her padded vest pocket.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
